Stop the press. Jay-Z has announced that he’s changing his name…to JAY Z. That’s right, the rapper has decided that the most pressing of his 99 Problems is the little hyphen between his ‘Y’ and his ‘Z’, simultaneously giving fans of good grammar everywhere a little shudder down their spines by going all caps on our asses.
Billboard editor Joe Levy broke the news via Twitter, writing, “Breaking: Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name, according to his label. I am not kidding. (Wish I was.) Copy editors: take note.” And the change has already taken effect, with Jay-Z…sorry, JAY Z’s iTunes back catalogue reflecting the new name.
Mr Z is hardly the first rapper to bust out a name change or an alter ego, but he’s possibly the first to make such a miniscule adjustment. Thankfully, the cover art for his latest release, Magna Carta Holy Grail, has a strike through his name that prevents anyone from seeing whether there’s a hyphen there or not, ’cause taking that back to the printers would have been one costly effort.
(via Clash Music)
Breaking: Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name, according to his label. I am not kidding. (Wish I was.) Copy editors: take note.
— Joe Levy (@RealJoeLevy) July 18, 2013
